Step-Free Access Works

Navin Shah: Can the Mayor provide an update on works to make stations step-free? Will works that were ongoing prior to Covid-19 be completed including those at Harrow On The Hill Station? Will stations where work was due to start be impacted?

The Mayor: In early October Transport for London (TfL) completed work on installing a lift at the northern terminus of the Piccadilly line, making Cockfosters the 80th Tube station to become step-free. Serving both platforms, it will vastly improve access to the station and wider transport network for people with accessibility needs. New tiling and brick work around the new lift was carefully selected to match the Grade II listed station’s heritage design.
The next phase of the London Underground Accessibility Programme will see a further seven Tube stations made step-free: Amersham, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Debden, Ickenham, Osterley, Sudbury Hill and Wimbledon Park.
Work is currently progressing at all seven stations. Lift towers have now been installed at all these stations except Sudbury Hill, and one lift tower is still to be installed at Harrow-on-the-Hill. At other stations, brickwork, panelling and glazing around the lift shafts and access bridges is now progressing. Amersham is scheduled to be the next station to become step-free, with engineers currently installing the lifts into the completed shafts.
Work to make Knightsbridge Tube station step-free will be completed as planned in 2021/22. TfL is also committed to delivering step-free access to the Circle and District line at South Kensington station, which is currently going through planning.
TfL is continuing the wider work on the redevelopment of Colindale. Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms (as part for the Northern Line Extension), Moorgate, Whitechapel and Ealing Broadway will also be completed as planned.
Burnt Oak, Northolt and Hanger Lane, which were scheduled to be delivered this year, have been paused and are pending further discussions with Government. At these stations, only preliminary work has been undertaken so far, and the projects were at a very early stage of delivery.
Boston Manor, North Ealing, Park Royal, Rickmansworth, Ruislip and Snaresbrook, which were scheduled to be made step-free in 2024, are paused, pending further discussions with Government on the funding support needed following the impact of coronavirus on its finances. At these stations, only design work has been undertaken so far.
Further updates on the programme will be shared with the London Assembly as soon as they are available.

Poems on the Underground

David Kurten: Given the paucity of commercial advertising currently available to TfL to entertain London’s commuters on the tube, I welcome the return of ‘Poems on the Underground’. However, the current offerings available read like the maunderings of the disturbed. Whilst I am well aware that there are some in our city who are not keen on British culture, the English language has always offered a rich poetic tradition. Is it possible that those involved in this initiative could be persuaded to provide Londoners with something slightly more uplifting in these difficult times?

The Mayor: The Poems on the Underground programme has been running for over 30 years, and has served as a model for similar initiatives around the world. The poems are selected by a group of three authors and award-winning poets. Those featured on the Underground in August are a mix of poems by authors hailing from Ireland and Uruguay as well as Hampstead, Hackney and Brixton. The poems have received positive customer feedback, with several commenting on how fitting the poems feel for the current mood. One customer was even inspired to try writing some poetry of their own during the journey.
A new round of poems is scheduled to appear on trains later this year.